Brandon Fuller

Run: Diamond Head (9.01 mi @ 08:35)

While sitting on my hotel balcony…and well, from nearly anywhere in Waikiki…you can see Diamond Head looming in the distance. From the beach, this looks like some far away summit peak protecting the shore from the dangers of the ocean. To this dude, it looks like something to run!

We got the whole crew in bed after that long journey across the Pacific. It was probably 3 AM Mountain Time. My body wasn’t ready to sleep in with the time change so I was up at the crack of dawn on our first day here. I slithered out of bed and with no light dug through my suitcase to find 2 socks and some shorts. I got my watch, my HR monitor and hat and left the hotel into the rising sun. There is nothing better than getting out on your feet in a new place to discover what surrounds you. I figured I would be all by myself running along the shore. Little did I know that many people had the same idea. The sidewalks had lots of runners on them. Kind of refreshing, yet slightly annoying. This is what makes me special — who are all of you? Ha.

So I progressed down the shoreline until my bowels rang the bell. Man…but wait! They have these awesome surfer bathrooms all along the coast. Concrete shelters with actual running water and drinking fountains (that are on this time of year!). Score. Kept on moving and got out of Waikiki and made my way around the Diamond Head Crater. I vaguely recalled a Google Maps view that showed something in the middle of this thing. So can I get inside? Ended up running about 270 degrees around it before I found the entrance. Oh well. Proceeded up the hill and into a cool tunnel burrowed through the side of the crater. Inside, you were surrounded by a wall of mountain with a small village in the center. Seemed like a different world. I got up to the gate only to be greeted by the entrance gate and a sign:

Walk-ins $1

Son of a bitch. I don’t have a dollar. Who takes money on a run? I hung my head and turned around. I will be back tomorrow.

That was yesterday. Today, I had my dollar and I bounded through the gate. Stopped at the visitor’s center to pit stop again. Read the signs that reminded me of the Grand Canyon (yet not so deadly): Take water, plan for hours, extremely strenuous, blah blah blah. Groups were being dropped off in vans nearby and getting ready for the long hike to the summit. How far? Sign says 0.7 miles. Crap. I wanted a challenge. That’s not far at all. About 750 vertical. So I started my watch and went tearing up the trail. It was paved at first then turned to rocky mountain side. Not like Colorado trail. More like running at Moab. Motored by tourist after tourist. Felt kind of cool at times and kind of dickhead-ish at others. Why is that guy blasting through here? But hey, you paid for a van from town to drive you over and you are huffing it up. I ran. Just sayin’. Anyway, I made my way off the trail and up a first set of stairs. Then into a tunnel — nearly pitch dark. Kept on the run. Coming through! Up another even steeper set of stairs and then another circular set and then up and out through the top of this building only to find the summit. 9:36. Not even long enough to matter.

Took in the views and then headed down. Turned my ankle painfully on the decent. So rocky and I just twisted it. Nearly had to walk it down until I hit flat ground and didn’t have to use that ankle to stabilize anymore. Got back on the run and motored up and out of the crater. Its all downhill into Waikiki from there so I got some good fast running downhill in there — think Boston. Got back to the shore and looked back. Diamond Head looks cool from back on the beach looming over in the distance. Probably head back again tomorrow. Might be the daily routine here. Its good to be on top.

I went 9.01 miles with an elevation gain of 1,078 feet in 01:17:26, which is an average pace of 08:35. Heart rate average was 151. View my GPS data on Garmin Connect.